The Journey to the Corn Spill

By Kimberly P, Emily G, and Alex V.

Well hello there. My name is Moose, and I'm a mouse. This is the story of my adventure to the spilled corn. Everything started when I was talking to my best friend, Gymnamoebae the protist.

I was walking around, looking for some seeds to eat, when I spotted my friend, Gymno.

"Hello," I said to him cheerfully.

"Hello," Gymno replied. "Are you on your way to the spill?"

"What spill?" I asked him, curious about what kind of a spill happened.

"Didn't you hear about it? Old Man Jenkins crashed into a telephone pole and his truck fell over. All of the corn from his truck spilled onto the ground. It's like a buffet line!" Gymno exclaimed. He waved his ‘arms’ around in excitement as he was telling me the story.

"Wow!" I exclaimed loudly, now joining in on the arm waving. "I haven't eaten in days! Actually, I was just out looking for something to eat; I've been starving!"

"Then this corn spill is just what you're looking for, my friend," Gymno said to me, glad to be of help.

"I think I'll head over there!" I spoke energetically, excited to get to this infamous corn spill that had happened.

I started to run across the fields of the grasslands, beginning my journey to the wonderful corn spill. Just thinking about the spill made me grin. Suddenly, I saw a Red-tailed hawk swooping down. I scurried around frantically when I suddenly caught sight my friend, Jack. He ushered me quickly into his cozy burrow.

We peered out at the hawk. He was still swooping down into the tall grasses trying to find himself some food. I slid down on the dirt floor of Jack's burrow and sighed while wiping the sweat off from my forehead.

"Thanks,” I said to Jack thankfully and out of breath.

"No problem," Jack replied. He smiled and showed me through his house, then to a place where I could rest. I shook my head at him, but thanked him for the offer anyway.

"I think I should really get going," I said to him. "I need to get to that corn spill," I added.

“Okay, Moose. I’ll see you around sometime soon?”

“Of course!” I said. “Are you sure that you don’t want to come to the corn spill with me?” I asked.

Jack nodded and he waved his paw as I scurried out of his burrow, continuing on my path to the glorious corn spill.

As I was running, I thought that I had seen something moving in the grass.

"Hello?" I asked. I looked around to find out what was there.

"Is anyone there?" I asked loudly into the seemingly deserted field.

"Hello," I heard a voice say. "Who is that? Where are you?" I asked. I turned around and almost started running back to my cozy little familiar home.

"Over here," I heard the voice say. It was coming from my right. I began to walk over to the grass and I was incredibly startled by what I saw.

"What are you?" I asked in horror.

"I'm a Fairy Ring Mushroom," He stated to me, as if it were the most obvious fact in the whole world.

"Why are you here?" I asked. "What do you want?"

"Are you going to the corn spill?" He asked.

"Yes," I said slowly.

"You might want to hurry it up," He said.

"I've heard that already," I said to him impatiently.

"I've already seen plenty of other young mice your age running down to that corn spill."

I sighed and thanked him quickly.

I started down the path once again when I felt a poke on my back.

"Ouch!" I exclaimed. I turned my head around to see the burr of a teasel plant attached to my fur.

"What are you doing there?! I need to get to the corn spill!" I yelled at him.

"I just needed a ride," He said quietly. "I need to spread the seeds of my mother plant. She'd be so proud of me if I'd be able to get to the
corn spill," He added.

I sighed and allowed him to ride on my back to the corn spill.

My legs began to grow tired and I stopped for a moment.

"Hey!" I heard someone say from behind me. "We need a ride here!"

"What?" I asked. "Who's there?"

"Us," They replied. "We're the infamous Mites!"

"Oh. It's you," I said angrily. "Go bug someone else. I need to get to the corn spill, and I don't need you annoying and biting me."

They mites snarled at me. "No! We need a ride."

I rested for a minute then started back up with the mites still on me.

My legs felt like they were going to fall off after the hundreds of meters that I had scampered. Finally, I thought I smelled some corn. Excited, I sprinted towards the smell. However, when I got there, there was hardly any corn left. I ate all of the corn that I could, and I finally got the mites and that burr off of my back.

"Ohhh..." I groaned. I felt like I could explode right at that very moment. I heard a soft munching noise.

"Yum," I heard. "So tasty. So good."

I started looking around, bewildered. Then, I looked down at my stomach and realized that I had swallowed an E. coli bacterium with the corn. It wasn't until ten minutes later that I realized that the E. coli were eating at the corn that I was digesting.

"Thanks for the meal!" The E. coli yelled to me. I hardly heard it, but it was still audible. I thanked him, but then felt silly for talking to my stomach.

I walked around and found a nice, soft patch of grass. I rested my head on the patch and fell asleep.